65. The main idea
of the last passage is that __________.
A. the early childhood education is very necessary
B. Head Start programs have helped the children a lot
C. environment is the most important to life’s success
D. better ways should be found to help the poor
children
C
Japan's 24-hour convenience stores,
already struggling with lagging sales and growth, may soon face yet another
threat - moves to limit business hours and close the stores late at night. The
district of Saitama, which borders Tokyo, may follow in the footsteps of the
western city of Kyoto and urge convenience stores to close during late night
hours in an effort to limit carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)emissions, Japanese media reported.
Kyoto,
a former capital, wants to persuade convenience and other 24-hour stores to
close late at night so as to improve evening views of the city and cut down on
energy use. The Nikkei business daily said closures could last from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The move is strongly opposed by the industry, which fears a bad impact on an
already troubled sector also grappling with the specter of a higher tobacco
tax, which could hit overall sales.
"Even if we only operate the stores
for 16 hours, we can't stop the refrigerators," said Toshiro Yamaguchi,
the president of Seven-Eleven Japan Co, which is owned by Seven & I
Holdings Co Ltd, at a news conference in Saitama on Tuesday. He said such cuts
in operating hours would reduce each store's profit by 20 percent. "If
this happens, our current business model will lose its foundation."
Analysts said that while it is difficult
to estimate the potential impact of the move without a concrete plan, their
overall impression was that it was likely to be negative. "This could cut
profits and lead to less efficient operations and the increased loss of
opportunities," said Masafumi Shoda, an analyst at Nomura Securities.
"But it depends on the store -- urban stores do better than others. There
are some in the countryside that are inefficient."
Some have suggested that if governments
were sincere about reducing carbon emissions there were much more efficient
methods, such as cutting back on the huge number of automatic vending machines(自动售货机)
